I don't really post here very often and I rarely post about my own dogs. Not for any real reason. I suppose. However, about a week or so ago, I noticed a lump on Honey's back. Didn't think much of it at the time. I'm not the kind of person who runs my dogs to the vet for every little issue. Ive got two pit bulls, bumps and scratches are every day occurrences . Not to mention, neither of them are the most graceful beasts. So, I assumed during one of her rough and tumble moments, she had hit something and got a bump. Figured I'd give it a few days to go down. No big deal. A couple of days ago, I noticed it's larger and has taken on a truly odd shape. It had started as just a bump, now it's almost horseshoe shaped.

She goes to the vet on Tuesday to be checked out. I am literally shaking until then. Everything about her seems fine. Eating, drinking and behaving normally. I don't see any signs of it causing her pain. She still wrestles Madre without a problem. But this dog also had her ear almost ripped in half by a Labrador as a puppy and acted as if nothing happened. So, if she's in pain, she probably wouldn't show it.

If it turns out to be something serious, I'll never forgive myself for waiting a week to get it checked out. This dog is my life, she's everything to me. God, she won't even be four until April. I think what's really freaking me out is that the lump is on her hip, really close to her spine. I always pictured her being around for a really long time. Pointing and laughing at her gray muzzle as I dye the gray out of mine . I hope I'm overreacting and that it's nothing. But if PBF has taught me anything, it's that all the great dogs leave us way before they should;

Some good thoughts would be nice. Honey has her issues but goddamn she's a fantastic dog. I'm honored to let her sleep in my bed.

Here's some pictures of the lump.

And one of Honey...being Honey. She loves to bury herself, I swear she's part gopher.

I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes. She may be going on Thursday instead. The vet tech that personally knows Honey will be there. Shes a friend of the family. This little red beast is pretty anxiety ridden, so I try to make the vet as familiar to her as possible. Helps a lot when Destiny is our tech. But she's gonna stop by the house tonight and give this thing a lookover. Depending on what she thinks, I'll either keep the Tuesday appointment or go on Thursday.

The lump hasn't really changed much but I saw the grossest thing on it last night. I noticed honey scratching the daylights out of her butt and went to inspect. There was a solid six or seven fleas feasting on the middle of this thing. Mind you, my dogs are all given comfortis religiously and my cats are on liquid preventative as well. I can assume they got the fleas from the yard. Living in sunny south Florida, being surrounded by woods and neighbors with dogs makes it nearly impossible to get the fleas out of the yard I'd presume. We spray back there and haven't really noticed any jumping on me but I wouldn't be surprised. And I'm assuming that's where they came from. It was so disgusting. I gave her and Madre both flea checks after that. Madre was clear and that was the only spot the fleas were on Honey. What the hell? I checked honey an Madre this morning, both flea clear again. I don't get it. Boggles my mind.

I took this picture where this lump is really obvious last night before bed.

Got back from the vet a bit ago and I must say he was amused and relieved at my utter panic about this lump. It's only a cyst thank god, so I can stop worrying for a bit .

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes! Honey got a Wendy's cheeseburger and some cow hooves. She thinks she won the lottery. Silly red dog has no idea that she actually won the lottery in a roundabout way

GoingPostal wrote:Good to hear, kind of amazed the vet thought you were nuts though, who wouldn't be freaking out about a big lump on their dog?

Well part of the big lump is her hip bones. The area around it is inflamed a bit because of the cyst. So that takes away the odd shape to the lump. He just thought it was funny because of how I was panicking in the exam room. To the vet it wasn't a big thing because it was just a cyst. I guess he didn't look at it from my perspective . Maybe after a while you become jaded to the owner .